Monthly Archives: July 2015

I don’t remember much of my childhood but I do remember playing with a Barbie-like doll with black and silver hair. I inherited that doll from my sister–the only doll that I had with cool hair before the 90’s new wave of Barbie dolls. I also remember customizing her later, and by that I mean chopping her hair, and dressing her with the coolest doll clothes I had.

Jetta doll, c. 80’s

At that time, I don’t remember if I realized that that doll wasn’t a Barbie. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was so cool. And she had to be: she was actually Jetta, from Jem and the Holograms. My sister is a fan of the show so my taste for it was a matter of time (Jetta was a favorite already). Continue reading →

Today I realized the last two summers I’ve spent most of my time re-watching two TV series I enjoy a lot: Fringe (2008-2013), and Lost (2004-2010). Today I also remembered both of them were created by J. J. Abrams (with Jeffrey Lieber and Damon Lindelof on Lost, and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci on Fringe), known lately for his reboot of the Star Trek franchise. I don’t like what he did to Star Trek. For me, his characters are flat and lacking the freshness and ahead-of-its-time quality of the Star Trek world. Abrams turned the beauty of the themes in Star Trek—acceptance, diversity, respect, and honor—to the action-driven superficiality of Star Wars.

I asked myself why Abrams took that turn, especially after creating all the rich characters and complex situations on Lost and Fringe. That’s a rhetorical question, of course; in most cases they (Hollywood, the film industry, the producers) create what the audience wants. Other than this statement, I don’t have an actual answer to that question. I could think that Abrams wanted to portray the characters according to the personalities shown in the Original series. The problem with that is that Abrams’ reboot was released on 2009, and the Original series on 1966. The period difference is ridiculous, including the social/political/cultural circumstances. In other words, you cannot expect the 60’s Star Trek formula to work seamlessly in the 21st century. It is antiquated.

But I’ll stop now. That’s a topic for another discussion.

Today I want to talk about Lost and Fringe: two TV shows that focus on character developing with a side of science fiction and drama. Continue reading →

A little over a year ago, I blogged about my makeup routine during the disgusting months of higher temperatures (June, July, and August). A lot has changed since that post: I got diagnosed with mild rosacea, some of the products I was using started to break me out and/or I got tired of using them, and I switched to (mostly) cruelty-free products. Here’s the updated list of makeup and skincare products I am using during these summer months.

The last couple of weeks I’ve been having a hard case of homesickness. But not from my actual home. Instead, I miss a place of autumn, coldness, gloominess, and the real feeling of Halloween. This feeling has been exacerbated by Tumblr and all the perfect pictures of a season I haven’t yet experienced at its fullness.

Six months have passed since my last post. Honestly, I didn’t have time to think about writing a blog post because my brain was busy—and I mean real busy. Most of those months were absorbed by my thesis—writing, proofreading, editing, adding pictures, and formatting the manuscript to be printed. I’m proud to say that I defended it on May 19th and passed with an outstanding grade!

Printed and binded ❤

My graduation ceremony was on June 17th; first graduation ceremony I attend to since high school. It was weird but pleasant at the same time.